Everything is being taken into account? All I care about is being able to keep my Sanguineus, Kazuma, and Maximilian safe and make them strong enough to take care of themselves if need be.

  What? Seriously?

  Lanek choked at the last message. The chosen class sounded amazing, right up until finding out that he would no longer level or earn experience. How the hell am I supposed to get stronger?!

  Despite his protestations, the System wasn’t done with him yet. More notifications began to stream in, none of which filled him with confidence at his future odds.

  Panicking, Lanek went through his skills, noting that he had only lost [Wild Communion], which made sense since it seemed like his Herald title performed the same function naturally. He was somewhat surprised to see that all of his soul-related skills remained, but they had been given to him by Eldros in the first place, so it was probably natural that they remained through the change.

  He found his anger increasing as he saw the loss of not only all of his subclasses, but also the updates to his titles. It turned out that the updates had been the loss of the extra points per level that they all provided. Lanek halfheartedly attempted to [Identify] what had happened to his species, feeling utterly unsurprised when the bastard of a System gave him no additional information.

  Really? Gonna fuck me over that hard and give me nothing I didn’t already have in exchange?

  Almost as if responding to his thoughts, the System chimed once more. Bracing himself for more bad news, Lanek opened the notification.

  That’s not bad, but it still doesn’t make up for losing my extra attributes or the ability to level up. Dammit, I need to talk to Eldros.

  I’m here, Lanek. I can feel your concern, but I ask that you be calm. Trust me when I say that you will be glad of those changes.

  Didn’t you say that you had no idea what would happen? How can you know that this will be a good thing? The System stole my ability to get stronger!

  Things have changed. Your offering of reward stones and the System making you my Chosen has restored some of my memories. It isn’t enough to restore me, but it has bought me time. Now, I want you to focus on our connection and the thought of making an offering.

  Still distraught and more than a little pissed off, Lanek complied. It made no sense to take it out on Eldros, both because it wasn’t the Primordial’s fault and because he knew damn well that the Primordial still had enough power to erase him from existence if he felt like it. A moment after complying with Eldros’ order, a new screen showed up. This screen listed hundreds, if not thousands, of options scrolling in front of his eyes before culminating in a single instruction.

  What the hell is this?

  Consider it to be something of a shop. The System considers the connection between gods, Primordials, and other entities to their followers to be very transactional in nature, hence why this functions like a shop. While the loss of experience is a blow, you can get so much more now.

  Instead of experience, you will now find reward stones much more frequently, both for slaying your foes and completing quests. With those stones, you can offer them up to me and select a boon from the list. Frankly, I wonder if the System is actively trying to save me as this essentially forces you to empower me in order to empower yourself.

  Okay… What kind of stuff can I select?

  There’s a lot, so give me a moment while I sort it into categories for you. There. Bring up the shop again.

  Lanek focused on the first category as his loss of leveling was a crippling blow to his attributes in particular. He sighed in relief as the list opened up, showing everything from increasing a single attribute by 1, 5, or 10 points to options that would increase every stat by 5 points. It was a very small category, but it would likely be one of the most useful for him.

  Moving on to class skills, he found a long list of compatible skills that he now had access to as a Chosen. He smiled broadly at the sight of not only more Beastmaster and Ranger skills, but also at the inclusion of Druid abilities. As he scrolled through, he also found weapon proficiency skills. Maybe I can finally evolve those skills, they stopped leveling a long time ago and I know that I’m nowhere near mastering any of the weapons I use.

  You can. The normal way to evolve those skills is to find a teacher to take you to the next level of mastery. This will let you bypass that requirement, but you will still need to level the skill to the evolution threshold before you can use stones to unlock the next tier.

  The gear enhancements category was filled with ways to improve his equipment, which pretty much consisted of enchantments. However, these options were incredibly expensive, often several times more expensive than the skills and attributes in the other categories. Although, seeing that many of the enhancements fell under the category of force multiplier, he wasn’t completely surprised. For example, he saw one enhancement that would essentially make one of his weapons the equivalent of a certain Norse god’s hammer in that it would return to him when called. He could imagine just how useful that would be if he could add it to his spear or a javelin. Hell, any thrown weapon would be a fantastic option for that enchantment.

  The next two categories provided extremely powerful skills that were intrinsically tied to the titles he had earned. The Herald options consisted of powerful auras and other passive skills that would empower all of his allies, but would have a much greater effect if they also served Eldros. One such aura that caught his attention was [Legion]. This ability would improve combat coordination between his followers, greatly increasing their potential in large scale conflicts.

  The Binder of Souls category was even more interesting as it gave him options that would put the souls around him to use, if they agreed to aid him. One of these abilities, which was well outside of his budget for what would likely be a very long time, was [Necromantic Infusion]. This ability would use the souls of the dead in a given area to imbue his body and equipment with power for a short period of time. Despite the necromancy reference, the souls were not enslaved nor could they be harmed. If he died or the time ran out, the souls would simply return to their previous state.

  As he perused the list, he spotted an entry at the bottom of the list that forced him to pause, [Marshal the ???]. Extremely curious, he focused on the skill and received no information nor was there a price listed for the skill.

  Hey, boss?

  You can’t have that one, no matter the number of stones you offer. It’s not an issue of cost or even of your power, it is my limitation. I am simply not powerful enough to manifest and grant that skill.

  I see. What is it though? Why does it have question marks?

  No clue. I have no memory of it.

  You know that just makes me want it more, right?

  Lanek could feel the Primordial grinning.

  Naturally.